SkyFox
by The Grey Wyvern
Summary: After a series of stinging defeats, Dr Robotnik finally gets the drop on Sonic and Knuckles and what he thinks is the definitive upper hand. Tails, Amy and a heavily upgraded Tornado intend to prove otherwise.


All characters except Cindy © Sega (I think).

Influences:

NetRaptor

Shax Davis

Psyguy

Damien and Kaijin of The Mystical Forest Zone

Caffiene

Alcohol

Foreword: I was originally planning to do this as a sprite-comic before I realised just how insanely complicated it would be, which is part of the reason I have so few original characters. And just for the record, my position on the Knuckles/Shadow/Rouge pairing debate is that if Shadow weren't still in mourning for Maria, it could go either way. But that's another story altogether...

* * *

_Mobius has been at peace since the end of the Black Arms crisis. After a series of stinging defeats, Dr Robotnik has withdrawn to his newly-rebuilt orbital command centre -better known as the Death Egg, though the good doctor will not thank you for pointing this out- to rebuild his forces and consider his next move, and has not been heard from in several years. Sonic has taken advantage of the lull to sign a lucrative modelling and endorsement contract with a major sportswear manufacturer, whilst Tails has recently embarked on a massive refit and upgrade programme for the Tornado... Amongst other things._

* * *

_32 Knothole Road, Emerald Hill, 13:19 PM:_

"Tails?" Silence. "Tails!" Sonic rolled his eyes. _"Tails!"_

"Yeah?" a muffled voice replied after a pause.

"Lunch!"

"OK, out in five." Tails pulled himself out from beneath the Tornado and headed for the bathroom off to one side of the workshop to wash his hands. Sonic ruffled his old friend and surrogate kid brother's fur affectionately as he finally emerged, still slightly grubby and thoroughly rumpled.

"It's about time. You got a girl in there or something?"

"What do you think?" Tails laughed. "C'mon, let's eat."

"Oh, I heard some of the answerphone message Amy left you last night," Tails remarked, putting his feet up on the coffee table and taking a bite of his burger. Sonic winced. "I stopped when I heard the first 'Darling Nicky', honest! You don't know when you've got it good, pal; that girl is _hot!_"

"Hmph." Sonic rolled his eyes. The answerphone message in question was_ not_ the kind of thing he liked to be confronted with first thing in the morning, especially when several of the voices giggling in the background belonged to people he was probably going to have to see again.

Still...

Though he didn't like to admit it, Amy Rose was really starting to grow on Sonic. She'd grown up a long way in the last few years, in several ways; the excess of pink and the schoolgirl crush were long gone, and whilst she could still be extremely giggly and immature at times, she was blossoming into an intelligent young woman with a wicked sense of humour and several pleasant physical attributes into the bargain. Everything, in fact, that Sonic had been looking for in a woman but hadn't been able to find before on account of Amy scaring them all off.

Tails watched Sonic's expression carefully, and tried not to laugh. He had a feeling he was going to owe Knuckles quite a lot of money in the near future. And on that note...

"Would you laugh at me if I told you that I saw Knuckles and Rouge at the movies together last week?"

On reflection, Tails decided as he thumped his old friend on the back, it might have been better to wait until Sonic had put his coffee down before telling him that. "You are joking, right?" Sonic said weakly, once he'd recovered. "Sheesh!"

"You'd kick her out of bed?"

"No, but I'm not the Guardian of the Master Emerald." Sonic sighed. "Well, it's not like it'd be easy to fence, I guess..." He knew for a fact that the Chaotix had yet to see any of the money Robotnik still allegedly owed them, something Vector was liable to point out at great length and volume at the slightest provocation, and Rouge's many vices did not include stupidity. Besides, he'd been saying they needed to find Knuckles a love interest for quite a while. Amy ought to get a laugh out of it; she'd said something about dropping by later. Sonic was vaguely unnerved by how much he was looking forward to that.

Tails finished his burger and stood up. "Well, I've got work to do."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't kill you to take a break, you know."

"Nah, I'm on a roll. 'sides, I'll be finished in an hour or so." His twin namesakes swished back and forth in the strange oscillating motion that enabled him to fly. "I'm telling you, Sonic, this is gonna be the coolest thing you've ever seen!"

"Oh really?" Sonic preened his quills in an exaggerated fashion. Tails swiped at the back of his head, sparking a brief wrestling match that ended with Tails pinned facedown on the sofa.

"Something you boys feel you ought to be telling me?" someone giggled. Sonic looked up, straight into the pretty brown eyes of the girl he was starting to think he might just be falling for. "Sorry, fellas; the back door was open."

"Just a difference of opinion, Amy," Sonic replied, with a nonchalant grin that didn't quite go with the rising blush.

"Yeah. I dared to suggest that something might exist that was cooler than him," Tails added, twisting the knife a little.

"Oh, heaven forbid, right, 'Nic?" Amy laughed.

"Naturally," he replied smoothly, releasing Tails and standing up. "So, you want some coffee or something?"

"Sure." Amy slid her denim jacket off and slung it over her arm, revealing a t-shirt proclaiming her enthusiasm for some band called Jilted Lovers that Sonic had never heard of. He remarked on the fact, and she flashed him a dazzling smile.

"Oh, Cream loves them; she was the one who bought me the t-shirt."

"You guys still talk?" Sonic was quite surprised; the six-year age gap would have been a barrier to most friendships.

"She's the closest thing I have to a kid sister," Amy pointed out reasonably. "Hey, that's why you keep this cute little furball around, right?"

Tails, who was now two inches taller than Sonic, gave Amy a look. "Yeah, well I remember you when you were still the butterfly-chasing bubblehead who followed 'Nic' here all over Mobius trying to get him to marry you, and don't you forget it!"

"Yeah, well I've still got that hammer, flyboy!" she retorted, shoving his shoulder lightly.

Tails laughed. "Figures. Will you two excuse me? I want to get the plane finished today." He glanced at Sonic, and flashed him a covert thumbs-up. Sonic flipped him off and went to pour Amy some coffee.

"So, how's your new job?" he asked her, adding cream and sugar.

"Not bad, but you would not _believe_ some of the prima donnas I have to run around for..." Amy had recently started working for a small but prosperous photographic agency that specialised in supplying pictures for advertising campaigns. Her job title was hard to define, since there only seemed to be about four other office staff, but her responsibilities included breaking up catfights between models (of both genders) and preventing the senior photographer from drinking whiskey between shoots. Say what you liked, the job was rarely if ever boring.

"So how about you, Mr New Face Of Footlocker?" she asked teasingly.

"Ah, I'm doing okay. The advertising stuff pays the bills, but..." Sonic sighed. "I hate to say it, but I'm kinda bored."

"Run out of evil geniuses to thwart, huh?" Amy smiled. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Hey, look, I'm sorry about that answerphone message I left you. I guess I'd had a few too many beers, and..."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I was kinda flattered, actually."

Amy's breath caught. "You really mean that?"

"C'mon, Amy; how many pretty girls d'you think I have calling me in the middle of the night to profess their undying love?"

Amy giggled. "You mean it doesn't happen every day?"

Tails reappeared at this point, the upper half of his overalls hanging down from the waistband and his fur streaked with engine oil. "Alright, guys. Come see what I made!"

Tails had his workshop in the basement, which was part of the extensive network of caves that honeycombed the Emerald Hill region. Since their property backed onto a cliff, it had been a relatively simple matter to bore through and create a concealed hangar for the Tornado. Racks of tools and containers full of spare parts lined the walls, harshly illuminated by flouresecent strip-lights. The Tornado istself was parked on a turntable in the centre, covered by a large dust sheet. Tails smiled broadly, and whipped the sheet off with a theatrical flourish.

"Whoa."

The Tornado was just about recognisable, though the hull had been painted matte-black and both sets of wings looked new. The engine was noticeably larger, and protruded an extra foot from the forward fuselage, sporting a new four-bladed propeller and extensive chrome trim. The rocket sled had also been enlarged noticeably, but the most startling modification was the addition of two Gatling-type guns mounted on the lower wings just outside the radius of the propeller, and the two racks of missiles flanking the rocket motor.

"Sonic, Amy, meet SkyFox!" Tails beamed proudly.

"Damn," Sonic breathed. "Is that even the same plane?"

"Barely. There's another three hundred horsepower in the engine, and I managed to add an extra thousand pounds of thrust to the booster. Top speed should be four hundred fifty on the main engine, and with the rocket sled engaged she'll make Mach One! As for sensors..." Tails pointed to the upper wing, which sported a small dome with a quartet of lenses. "Three-sixty degree passive infrared scanning, plus a radar warning reciever and a full suite of countermeasures. The jammers are custom-made, not quite military-spec but good enough to spoof Eggman's AWACS..."

"Sonic?" Amy said quietly. "Do you have _any_ idea what he's talking about?"

"Nope. Sounds impressive, though."

"Of course, that's not the best part." Tails laid a hand on one of the miniguns. "Fifty-calibre, two thousand RPM; I pity the Badnik gets in the way of these babies! As for the missiles, they're all my own work. Infrared guidance, interchangeable fragmentation and blast warheads..."

"You have been spending _way_ too much time hanging out with Shadow, little buddy," Sonic laughed. "But damn, does this thing look good! When are you gonna test it out?"

"Still got some checks to run on the sensors and weapons, but I figure I'll be ready by tomorrow morning. Think you can scare up some Badniks for a little live-fire exercise?"

"I think I can manage something..."

Right on cue, the communications system warbled. Sonic happened to be closest, and switched it on. "Sonic here."

"_Sonic, it's Knuckles. I've got a weird reading on the motion sensors out here, and I could use an extra pair of hands checking it out. You available, over?"_

"Soon as the Tornado's ready to fly. Tails?"

"Give me a couple of minutes to run the preflight checks," Tails replied, vaulting into the cockpit.

"Great. Hear that, Knux?"

"_Got it. See you on Angel Island. Knuckles out."_

"Great. You want in, Tails?"

"Nah, I've got a date."

Sonic did a classic double-take. "A _date?_"

"I'll tell you when we get back."

Amy opened her mouth to say something, but SkyFox's engine coughed into life before she could get a word in. Tails opened the throttle, hitting a remote control that opened the roller-door at the end of the workshop and extended an eighty-foot steel pier out over the sea. Amy stood well back as a bank of powerful electromagnets engaged and shot the Tornado out of the hangar like a bullet from a rail-gun.

"Fine," she snapped, then spun on her heel and stalked out.

_Master Emerald Secure Containment Facility, Angel Island, 13:57 PM:_

The Tornado circled the short airstrip and small prefabricated building that comprised the only indicators of a sentient presence on Angel Island, its pilot making sure his aircraft's Identification Friend-or-Foe beacon was functioning, then came in for a cautious landing. Tails sensed but couldn't see several heavily camoflauged and very powerful automated weapons systems tracking them as the heavily modified biplane rolled to a stop near the small shed. Sonic jumped down from the rear cockpit, waved briefly and made his way towards the small building. Tapping a six-digit code into the panel beside the door, he stepped inside and onto a hydraulic elevator, which descended some seventy feet into a large natural cavern that they had adapted to form a near-impenetrable strongroom for the Master Emerald and its lesser brethren. A low dais containing the Master itself formed the centrepiece of the cavern, with the seven Chaos Emerald arranged around it on small stone plinths, all salvaged from the original Emerald Temple. All concern for aesthetics ended there; the rest of the cavern was taken up by stacked crates of munitions and other supplies, as well as a muddy and careworn all-terrain vehicle.

Loud rock music could be heard blasting from one corner of the cavern, so Sonic followed the noise until he entered a small cave set off to one side of the Emerald chamber, which served as living quarters for the last Guardian of the Master Emerald. Idly, Sonic wondered what his old friend's predecessors would have made of the large computer console from which Knuckles controlled the vast battery of sensor and weapon systems that they had installed over the last few years, or the vast quantity of empty beer cans and abandoned ready-meal cartons that seemed to cover most of the flat surfaces.

_We need to find him a girlfriend..._ Sonic recalled his earlier conversation with Tails, and smiled wryly. _One that's not as attracted to shiny things, _he amended. "Hey, Knux!"

A toilet flushed somewhere out of sight, and Knuckles emerged a few moment later. "Sonic," he said tersely but without hostility, his expression all business. "Come take a look at this." He sat at the computer terminal and punched in a series of commands. "These are the vibration sensor recordings for the last eighteen hours." Sonic watched with interest as the steadily fluctuating line, which brought to mind an oscilloscope, was broken by a series of incredibly regular spikes. "That's just for one sector. I've been getting these all over the island, but I can never get an infrared trace, let alone a sighting to confirm it."

"Too regular to be seismic," Sonic mused. "Badnik activity?"

"Same as normal; if anything it's down some, and what there is sticks to regular patrol routes _way_ outside the trembler line." Knuckles scratched his chin with one of his namesake claws. "And there's nothing on Angel Island big enough to generate a reading like that except for us."

Sonic winced. "Looks like Eggman finally built something stealthy."

"Whatever is is, it's at least anthro-sized, probably heavier." Knuckles handed Sonic a small radio headset. "We'll cover more ground if we split up, but stay inside the defence perimeter."

"Got it. And please dear _God _don't let it be yet another fucking metal alter-ego!" Sonic groaned, strapping the battery pack around his waist and donning the headset.

"I thought you got a kick out of those," the scarlet-furred echidna remarked, donning his own radio.

"Yeah. Several. And usually in places I don't like being kicked."

_32 Knothole Road, 14:17 PM:_

"That arrogant mysognistic son of a _bitch_!"

Tails winced. It seemed that Amy was in one of her now-legendary tempers. He privately thought she was quite attractive when she was furious, but only when viewed from a distance, and suddenly his bedroom door didn't seem thick enough. "Amy, I hate to interrupt when you're on a roll like this, but SkyFox only has one passenger seat."

"Yeah, like 'Nic needs a chauffeur," she snapped.

Tails sighed, and finished combing his headfur. "You want me to trust 'Nic' with my aeroplane? No way. And he hates it when people call him that, by the way." He took one last look in the mirror and stepped out onto the landing. "So, how do I look?"

He looked, in Amy's considered opinion, fantastic. The dark grey slacks and lighter knitted jersey hung well on his tall, lean frame, and he could hardly have been more thoroughly groomed if he'd been trying to get into a pedigree dog-show.

_Now who on Mobius could _this_ be in aid of?_ "Tell me who you're meeting and I'll tell you."

Tails sighed. "Sorry, Amy. Can't tell you yet."

"How come?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you're not great at keeping secrets," he replied. "And there are a few people I'd rather not have hear about this secondhand, you know?"

Amy blinked. "Oh, Tails, I... I don't know what to say. How long have you known?"

"What?"

"Oh, it must have been so hard for you all this time, going through life with such a big secret..." Amy winked at him. "I bet he's really cute, right?"

"Oh, for the love of... Amy, you have the wrong idea, really. My date is quite definitely female. It's just..."

"Aw, c'mon," she snorted. "What's the big deal? Those operations are so good these days that-"

"Amy!" Tails suppressed the urge to scream. "OK, fine. I give up. It's Cindy."

The probable repercussions of telling her before he'd had a chance to have a word with Sonic, Tails thought to himself, were well worth seeing Amy Rose rendered absolutely dumbstruck.

Sonic and his younger sister did not get along too well. She thought he was an arrogant prick, he'd never really got past treating her as an annoying tagalong, and Tails was stuck in the middle trying to get them to attempt some semblance of normal family relations. His efforts were almost invariably fruitless, but he felt obliged to make an effort nonetheless, not least because he had always liked Cindy.

"How long have you been dating?"

"About three months, but we've only had five, maybe six actual _dates_..." He smiled faintly. "I honestly don't know when it stopped being two friends meeting for coffee and started being, well... You know. But Sonic doesn't know about this yet, so can you do me a _really_ big favour and promise to keep quiet about this until I've had a chance to talk to him?"

"Well..."

"Amy!"

"Okay, _okay._ Who'd believe me anyway?" She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "And you look great."

_Somewhere on Angel Island, 14:23 PM:_

Sonic pulled a twig out of his quills and threw it irritably over his shoulder. "For _this_ I'm missing _Firefly_?" he grumbled, perching on an outcrop of rock to adjust the fit of his radio headset, which was becoming extremely uncomfortable. He was about to check in with Knuckles, and suggest rather plaintively that they make absolutely certain that the vibration sensors were working properly, when the radio crackled to life of its own accord.

"_Sonic! Sonic, come in!"_

"I read you, Knuckles. What's wrong?"

"_The frigging Badnik's got me pinned down in Sector 23! I need back-up!"_

"On the way. Sonic out." He vaulted off the rock and sprinted off.

* * *

The Badnik was indeed vaguely hedgehog-shaped, but its hull was black with dark red trim, and it was equipped with an impressive collection of heavy weapons. Knuckles, who was crouched behing a large outcrop of rock as it poured volleys of gunfire in his general direction, supposed that Dr Robotnik had wanted a little variety. "Sonic, any time now..." 

"Don't sweat it, Knux," Sonic replied a little breathlessly. "I've got... everything under control. Just be ready to run like hell if this doesn't work quite... right!"

The large and moss-encrusted monument to some ancient echidnean warrior finally began to topple. The Mecha-Shadow Badnik ceased firing and looked upwards at the sudden shade. Perhaps he was anthromorphosising too much (insert your own joke here), but Knuckles could practically _hear _it thinking, "Oh, crap."

_Crunch._

"Owned, bitch." Sonic landed in a crouch near where Knuckles had taken cover. The echidna gave him a weary look.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, Sonic, but please don't ever attempt gangsta-speak again or I may have to disembowel you. Good thinking with the statue by the way."

"Thanks." Sonic helped Knuckles to his feet. "Hope it wasn't sacred or anything."

"Nah, I reckon the old guy woulda been proud," Knuckles replied. "C'mon, let's head back. We should get Tails to take a look at what's left of that thing, see if he can figure out how it spoofed the infrared." The wrecked combat drone began to spark ominously. "Um, I think we might wanna stand back a little...!"

The Mecha-Shadow's ammunition and fuel reserves exploded. The two anthronimals sailed across the clearing and landed with considerable force against the cliff from which Sonic had pushed the statue, followed by a rain of gravel and small bits of sharp metal.

"This is going to be one of those days," Knuckles groaned, and passed out.

"Yep," Sonic agreed, then did likewise.

_Club 30, Station Square, 17:01 PM:_

Tails glanced at his watch, and then at his reflection. _Come _on_! You've known Cindy for years..._

_But you've only been in love with her for a few weeks._

_True. Oh, well._

"Miles!"

Tails looked up. Cindy was alighting from a taxi, looking effortlessly beautiful in a simple green silk dress that came to her knee and accentuated her dark teal quills and fur. Her eyes matched her brother's, and there was a striking facial resemblance between the siblings. She wasn't conventionally pretty, but her features radiated kindness and wisdom, as well as a wicked sense of humour. The dazzling smile she was wearing as she made her way towards the young fox-anthronimal was doing very odd but far from unpleasant things to several different parts of his body, and Tails matched it with a grin of his own as Cindy stood on tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips. He slipped an arm around her waist and lifted her up so he could kiss her back. Their eyes locked, and they stayed like that a long moment, then gently broke apart. "Shall we?" Tails said gallantly.

"Yeah." She took his arm, and they went inside to find a good table for tonight's set. Cindy's old schoolfriend Mina was performing with a new band that was supposed to be good, and had wangled them a couple of tickets as a favour. Tails ordered a bottle of red wine and a plate of nachos to share, and they made themselves comfortable at a small table a short distance from the stage, and chatted easily about almost every subject under the sun. Cindy's intellect was easily as razor-sharp as his own, and they shared a mutual love of literature and the arts.

_I love you,_ he said to himself, gazing into her eyes. _But how do I tell you? _Before he thought of a sensible answer, the band took to the stage and launched into something energetic. Before Tails could open his mouth to protest, Cindy dragged him towards the dancefloor.

It might have been minutes, it might have been hours. Tails never knew. His mind, his heart, his entire being were focused upon the woman in his arms as they moved together on the dancefloor. Before he really knew what he was doing, he pulled her into a deep and tender kiss. Without a moment's hesitation, Cindy returned it, her hands snaking around his shoulders as she pulled herself up to his height. "So it's like that, hmm?" she said softly.

"I guess so."

Cindy pulled him into another kiss. "Take me home, Miles. Take me home and make love to me."

_Location unknown, time unknown:_

"Any luck?"

"Keep your spikes on, will you?" Knuckles snapped. "I think I'm getting somewhere-" A large jolt of high-voltage electricity sent him flying across their cell, causing him to land rather heavily, the lockpicks he kept hidden in one bootheel scattering behind him.

"Jesus! You alright?" Sonic asked urgently.

"Nothing permanent," Knuckles replied, wincing as he sat up. "But I think we can forget the door; the lock's got about a thousand volts running through it."

"Great. So, Plan B." They looked at the rusty ventilation grille above their heads. "Ready?"

"Soon as you are."

Sonic boosted his colleague up with some difficulty. "Whew. You're heavier than you look."

"Excuse me?" Knuckles complained, gripping the bars. "Is Mr Seven Chili-Dogs At One Sitting criticising _my_ weight?"

"Hey! I do a lot of track and field stuff, remember? I need my carbs and protein."

"Yeah, yeah. Just grab on, wilya?"

Sonic jumped up and grabbed the echidna's shoulders. Knuckles gripped the rusty metal bars with all his strength, sweat breaking out as he wrestled with the bars...

Sadly, his considerable upper-body strength gave out first. Hedgehog and echidna crashed to the deck in a tangle of limbs. "Okay, so maybe it's not so rusty after all," Knuckles remarked, getting to his feet. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Death Egg, I think; I was pretty out of it on the way up here. Eggman sure got lucky this time, huh?"

"Yeah," Knuckles said miserably, parking himself on one of the uncomfortable pallets that comprised the cell's only furniture. "I just hope the automated defences on Angel Island hold out until we figure out how we can get the hell out of here."

"Don't worry," Sonic replied with a confidence he didn't entirely feel. "Tails can handle it 'til we get back."

"_If_ we get back," Knuckles added sourly.

_Downtown Station Square, 10:17 PM:_

"I didn't think foxes could purr," Cindy remarked sleepily.

"I didn't think hedgehogs could, either," Tails replied, one hand playing idly with her quills. Cindy giggled, and snuggled comfortably against his chest. "I hope you liked that as much as I did," he added.

"Oh, definitely. Ready for round two?"

"Any time..." His commset bleeped at him. "Damn. Hold that thought... Hello?"

"_Tails, it's Amy. Look, I'm really sorry to bother you, but Sonic hasn't called yet and I'm getting kind of worried."_

"Ah, he never does; I guess he figured you'd gone home."

"_But I've tried his commset twice, and Knuckles isn't picking up either."_

"I wouldn't worry," Tails replied, though he was a mite concerned himself. "The signal up there is lousy anyway. Look, if you don't hear anything by morning then we'll take SkyFox and see what's up."

"_Okay. So, how was your date?"_

"Better than you'll ever get from my jerk of a big brother," Cindy remarked acidly. "Now if you don't mind, we were kind of in the middle of something!"

"_Oh!"_ The connection closed abruptly. Tails sniggered, and switched off his commset. "That was mean. Funny, but mean."

"Pfft. Those two deserve each other. Honestly, she's just lucky he never got her pregnant and vamoosed..."

Tails sighed. "You really don't like him, do you?"

"No, and I doubt I ever will. You on the other hand..." She ran her fingers through his fur until she reached somewhere intimate, and squeezed. "... are definitely more to my tastes."

Tails rolled over and kissed her again, then pulled himself on top of her and began trailing kisses down her body. "I love you, Cindy," he whispered breathlessly.

"I love you too," she said softly. They looked at each other with matching smiles, and spent the next two hours proving it to each other.

_Downtown Station Square, 9:15 AM:_

Tails sat up violently as a warbling alarm blared from his commset. "Oh, crap!"

"If that's my brother's arm-candy again..." Cindy growled, burrowing under her duvet.

"No, this is from the computers at Angel Island. The Emerald Vault's under attack!"

That got her attention all right. "What?"

"The computers are set up to send an alert to our commsets if the defence perimeter's violated and nobody reacts from the main console. Oh my God, Amy was right!" He bounded out of bed and began frantically hunting for his clothes.

"Can I do anything to help?" Cindy asked.

"Have you got Rouge's number? Damn. Not much, then." Now mostly dressed, Tails bent down to kiss her. "Wish me luck."

"Be careful, Miles."

"With a girl like you waiting for me? You bet I will!"

_32 Knothole Road, 9:21 AM:_

Amy jerked awake, momentarily confused as to where she was and what had woken her. Then she realised the computer was sounding an urgent alarm, and leapt off the couch where she'd nodded off. Seating herself and putting on the headset, she tapped into the Emerald Vault's defence network and brought up the sensor display. "Mother of Mobius," she breathed.

There was a squeal of brakes outside, and Tails came flying in through the front door. "What have we got?" he demanded urgently.

"Twenty or more Badniks, mostly E-Series. Defences are holding them off for now, but if Eggman keeps pushing..."

"Looks like I get that live-fire exercise after all," Tails said grimly. "Come give me a hand prepping SkyFox."

Tails hooked up the fuel lines and started the pump, and then with Amy's help he slotted two thousand-round cannisters of ammunition into place beneath each wing-root. The missiles were light enough to be manhandled easily on their wheeled cradles, and the connectors were all the simple plug-in type. Tails handed Amy a spare flying helmet, then performed a quick but thorough walk-around inspection of the aircraft before getting into the cockpit and beginning the takeoff checklist. Amy climbed in behind him and strapped in, fumbling to connect her oxygen mask to the air supply as the engine coughed into life.

"Eject lever's under your seat. Anything goes wrong and I call out 'Eject!', grab it and pull hard. The 'chute's hooked up to your restraints and triggers automatically, but if it hasn't opened after ten seconds pull the tab on your right hip. All clear?"

"Clear," she replied hesitantly.

"Good. Hold tight!" Tails opened the throttle to maximum, then fired the electromagnetic catapault by remote. Amy yelped as the g-force threw her backwards, and clung rather tightly to the handles on either side of the rear cockpit, eyes tightly closed. The pressure eased after a few moments, and she took a few deep breaths.

"Alright back there?" Tails enquired through the intercom. "I'm closing the canopies so you won't have so much wind in your face." A Perspex dome lined with strips of something rotated over the cockpit with a hydraulic whine, cutting off the buffetting wind. "Better?"

"Some," she replied. "I always hate takeoffs and landings."

"So do most pilots," he replied. "OK, I'm gonna kick in the turbos; this might be a little rough."

Amy swallowed, and braced herself. The rocket sled engaged with a roar, throwing her back against the seat again. It seemed to last an age, but it was over within five minutes.

"Okay, I've got a visual on the airstrip," Tails said grimly. "Heavy Badnik presence, but they're coming in pretty dumb." The combat drones were advancing steadily on all fronts and making little use of cover; Dr Robotnik had come rather late to the concept of subtlety, and only used it when all other avenues had been exhausted. This suited the Sonic Heroes (who never referred to themselves as such and rather resented the media-invented moniker) right down to the ground. "Might wanna hold on tight, we're about to take some ground-fire," he warned, flipping the Master Arm switch. SkyFox sideslipped sharply, shedding height, and Tails carefully centred his gunsights on the advancing line of Badniks. With a feral grin, he pulled the trigger and sent twin lines of tracer boring through the advancing combat drones. They blew up spectacularly, and those he didn't get with the first pass retreated into the jungle at top speed.

"Well that was hard," Tails drawled. "Okay, let's get down there and find out where the hell Sonic and Knuckles went."

_Dr Robotnik's Command Centre, somewhere above Mobius, 9:36 AM:_

"Bugger and shit!" Robotnik raged, punching the monitor. "When the hell did he arm that thing...? Casualty report!"

"_Seven combat drones destroyed, severe damage to three more,"_ the computer replied blandly. _"Remaining combat drones have withdrawn and appear to have escaped detection."_

"Could have been worse, then," he conceded grudgingly. "Estimated damage to target?"

"_Minimal; majority of defence batteries still operational, including anti-aircraft weapons. Recommend deployment of artillery support."_

"Proceed, but do not commence bombardment yet." Dr Robotnik twirled his moustache thoughtfully. "Time to try a little hard bargaining."

_Angel Island, 10:11AM:_

"Tails, look!" Amy called, holding up a smashed commset. "It's Sonic's!"

Tails held up a matching commset that had belonged to Knuckles. "Whatever they did must've blown the Badnik sky-high, and I guess they were standing close enough to get caught up when it went up."

"You mean...?"

"I'm pretty sure they're alive," Tails replied. "Okay, it's possible Eggman had their bodies stashed away somewhere so he can play mind-games, but that's not his style. Nah, I reckon he'll try and get us to trade them for the Master Emerald or something." Tails scratched his muzzle thoughtfully. "C'mon, let's get back to base; I need to use my computer."

_Location unknown, time unkown:_

"So what's the first thing you're gonna do when we get out of here?" Sonic asked idly, leaning back on the bunk.

"Well, there's a girl I'll have to grovel to," Knuckles admitted. "I was supposed to be meeting her somewhere."

"She teach you to use those lockpicks?" Sonic asked, suppressing a grin. Knuckles scowled. "Well, don't that beat all."

"Fuck you, blue boy," Knuckles replied, without much heat. "She's on our side, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, all right. Hell, it's not like it'd be easy to fence; Vector's still bitching about how Eggman still hasn't paid him... Hey, you seen those guys lately?"

"Sonic, can you please shut up?" Knuckles snapped. "I'm not in the mood for small talk, okay?"

"Sorry. Just trying to stay sane, y'know?" Sonic replied mildly.

"Me too. Just, I don't know, talk to your invisible friends or something."

"Oh, that's so funny I forgot to laugh." Sonic shook his head. "Damn it, this is just what Eggman wants us to do. We gotta keep it together or we're screwed. You wanna see Rouge again, right?"

"Right." Knuckles was struck by a thought, and reached into his utility vest. "Still got it," he said, obviously relieved.

"What?"

"This." A small velvet box bounced off Sonic's head. "Go ahead and take a look."

Sonic opened it. "Holy shit. Is this what it looks like?"

Knuckles nodded. "I was going to ask her tonight." He took back the ring and pocketed it. "See why I'm scared, hmm?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Sonic was still trying to absorb the idea.

"Anyone you're scared to lose?" Knuckles added.

Sonic thought about it. "Not like that, no. My folks are dead, Cindy'll probably piss on my grave... There's Tails, I guess, but he's as much a part of this as you and me; he knows the risks. I always said there'd be a day when he'd have to fight the good fight without me, and he's not a kid any more. He'll grieve, but he'll get over me."

"And Amy?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Look, Knux. I am not in a relationship with Amy, okay? She's a nice girl, and _maybe_ something might happen between us some day, but..."

"She also happens to be in love with you," Knuckles pointed out. "Though I really don't know why, the number of times you've..."

"Hey!" Sonic snapped. "You think I should just say 'What the hell, it's a few screws that don't cost cash up front'? You think I should've pretended to love her, messed with her head like that? Do I really come across as that much of an asshole?"

"Alright, I'm sorry; that wasn't how it was meant to sound. But she must really love you to keep hoping that long, Sonic. Don't undervalue that," Knuckles replied. "Besides, she's not a twelve year-old ditz anymore."

Sonic cracked a smile. "You got that right, man. And I hate to admit it, but she is kind of growing on me."

Knuckles laughed. "Always knew it was just a matter of time, pal."

_32 Knothole Road, 10:42 AM:_

Tails sat down in front of the computer console, mug of coffee in one hand, and clicked his way through a couple of menu screens until he was presented with what appeared to be an interface from one of Dr Robotnik's own terminals. "Wow," Amy remarked.

"Eggman has an inflated opinion of his firewall software," Tails remarked modestly. "Now, let's see..." A few dozen keystrokes later, they were viewing a live CCTV feed from one of the Death Egg's prison cells. Sonic and Knuckles were clearly visible, and seemed to have only minor injuries. "Okay, so we know they're alive, and where they are," Amy concluded, not bothering to hide her relief. "Now how do we get them out of there?"

"Follow me," Tails replied with a cocky grin. "I think I've got something that can help with that."

Before they could leave the room, the computer bleeped twice. _"Incoming transmission,"_ it informed him blandly. Tails hit the 'Accept Call' button, and was entirely unsurprised to be confronted by the less-than-attractive visage of Dr Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik.

"You can't trace this transmission, so don't bother to try," he said conversationally. "I assume that you at least suspect by now that two close friends of yours are currently being held captive by my forces. They're still alive, of course, though I had an impressive programme of creative unpleasantness in mind for them as soon as I was able to parade the Chaos and Master Emeralds before them. However, your automated defences were rather more formidable than I had anticipated; I am in fact rather grudgingly impressed, young master Prower.

"So, in the circumstances, I feel it best if we arrange a trade. You have something I want -eight large gemstones- and I have something that I would assume that _you_ want. Place the seven Chaos Emeralds and/or the Master Emerald somewhere outside the range of Angel Island's defences -see? I'm not an unreasonable man- within twenty-four hours and your companions shall be returned to you unharmed. It doesn't particularly matter _where_ you leave them, of course; I can track a Chaos Energy signature that potent almost anywhere in this solar system. However, I'll be dropping your friends off in the same place regardless of local conditions, so I don't recommend dropping them in the deepest chasm of the Mobean Ocean or something out of sheer spite. And you'd better be very sure of yourself before you try any heroic rescue attempts," Robotnik added coldly, "because I'd like nothing more than an excuse to throttle those two. Well, I'll leave you to think on it for a bit. Ta-ta for now, dearie."

"Can that guy possibly become any more of a jerk?" Tails snorted. "Now, where were we?"

* * *

"Is that what I think it is?" Amy said slowly. 

"Yep." Tails thumped the Badnik's dented hull. "One A588 Lumberjack Drone, the Mark Two I believe. I found the wreck near Mushroom Hill and patched it up." Tails lifted the robot's head. "I pulled the CPU and most of the computers and fitted a basic cockpit. We were planning on using it to infiltrate the Death Egg, but I couldn't fit a big enough air tank; it'd get one of us _there_, but we'd have to hijack an Eggmobile or something to get home."

"Won't matter too much now. So," Amy said thoughtfully, "how easy is it to fly?"

"What?"

"Well, unless you'd rather entrust me with SkyFox, of course." She rolled her eyes at his expression. "You're almost as bad as 'Nic, do you know that?"

"And when did you get a pilot's license?" he pointed out reasonably.

"Look, I don't like the idea any more than you do, but if you've got a better idea then I'm listening. Robotnik's gonna be all over our asses the second we clear the launch bay unless someone runs interference for us."

Tails conceded defeat. "Okay, okay. I think we can work with this..."

He quickly programmed the battered combat drone to transmit a specific IFF signal belonging to a drone that had been destroyed by SkyFox earlier. When interrogated by the Death Egg's computer, it would send a false damage report and claim to be returning to the Death Egg for repairs. "That should spoof them," he concluded. _I hope._ "Now I just have to walk you through how you fly this thing."

Amy quirked an eyebrow. "Who was supposed to use it, you or Sonic?"

"Point."

The controls weren't complicated, and the battered melee-combat drone was supposed to have been damaged anyway, so a somewhat erratic flightpath would cause little comment. "No room for my hammer?" Amy said hopefully.

"No need. Watch." Gripping it by the blunt bottom edge, Tails twisted the head of the axe and pulled it out of the Badnik's grip, about five feet of the shaft accompanying it. "Weighs less than fifteen pounds, and I could shave with the edge," he remarked. " Look in the drawer behind you, I think I left... Yeah." Amy extracted two metal screw-clamps with strapped leather handgrips attached.

"Cool!"

"Thought you'd like it. Okay, last chance to back out."

"Forget it," she replied. "You just be ready to blow the crap outta the Death Egg the second we clear the hangar bay." Amy climbed into the modified combat drone and sealed the hatch. "Good luck, Tails. Oh, and how'd it go with Cindy?"

Tails smirked. "Sorry, Amy; a true gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

Takeoff was delayed by several minutes as Amy tried vainly to control her giggles.

_Vicinity of the Death Egg, 11:02 AM:_

"Okay, I have a visual on the landing bay," Amy warned. "Anything?"

"_Radar should be locking on any... Yep, they've picked you up. IFF's being queried... Cleared. You've got a green light. Head for the landing bay just below the centreline. There should be an open hatch in sight by now."_

"I've got it. See you on the way out." She switched off the radio and concentrated on holding a steady course. The Badnik wasn't very aerodynamic, but its anti-gravity drive compensated for the worst of the buffeting. It wouldn't have been advisable to drink coffee onboard, though. Amy peered at the small LCD screen that represented her only window on the world, watching the hangar doors get larger. The resolution wasn't up to much, but it was just enough to get her inside without...

_Wham!_

Amy swore as the Badnik's 'head' was torn free, taking the camera with it. She pressed on blindly for a few seconds, then slewed to the left and cut the hoverdrive in mid-flight, slamming the combat drone into the deck. She wrestled the hatch open and vaulted out of the wreck, then unscrewed the axe and reached into the cockpit and pulled a yellow and black striped handle.

A large tracked robot with a bulldozer blade and a small crane on top arrived just as the fuel cells exploded. The automated wrecker began pushing the burning wreckage towards the still-open hatch, dense white vapour spraying from a small nozzle just above the blade. Amy watched with satisfaction, then made her way along a marked gangway towards the far end of the landing bay, adjusting the grips on the axe as she walked. Once they were placed and tightened to her satisfaction, she swung it over one shoulder and cast around for the lift. _Now, does Robotnik have any security on this thing...?_ The controls were standard commercial, and Amy took a scrap of paper from her shirt pocket and checked which level she wanted. "Going up!" The open-sided platform began to ascend rather too fast for comfort. Amy gripped the safety rail rather tightly, and was extremely relieved when the lift came to a halt at the centre of an intersection. Rows of identical steel doors stretched out at all four points of the compass as far as the eye could see, and Amy sighed deeply. "Terrific." She headed for a computer terminal embedded in a bulkhead, hoping against hope that... "Hah! Not even a password," she laughed, then flipped open her portable commset. "Tails? I'm at the detention level. Whatever you're about to do, start doing it."

"_Copy that, beginning my run. Keep radio silence until you're clear of the Death Egg; I'm gonna have my hands full."_

"Understood. Good luck, and bee careful. Out." Amy snapped the commset closed and turned her attention to the computer. "Romeo, Romeo, where the hell has Eggman put my... Gotcha." She rapped the touchscreen with one knuckle, earning a warning bleep from the computer and a text box reading _Confirm: Y/N?_ Amy pressed _Y_, and heard a soft clunk as the lock disengaged on a nearby cell. A familiar face appeared around the doorfame, his expression one of amazement.

"Wassup?" Amy quipped.

"Amy! What... How...?"

"Surprised to see me?"she giggled.

"Well, um..."

"The memorial service for your machismo can wait!" Knuckles snapped. "C'mon, let's get outta here before Eggman comes to gloat or something."

* * *

"Never been awake, never seen the day break, leaning on my pillow in the morning... light!" Ivo bellowed, twirling under the showerhead. "Oh oh oh, it's magic! You kno-ow, never believe it's not so..." 

"_Dr Robotnik?"_ a bland, slightly tinny baritone voice said politely. _"Apologies for disturbing you, but an unidentified aircraft is approaching the air-defence interception zone."_

"Understood," he replied curtly, shutting off the water and reaching for a towel. "Go to air defence condition amber and try to identify it."

Drying himself quickly and slipping into a bathrobe, he made his way to the command centre and settled himself at the main console. Calling up a powerful all-weather camera system, he examined the fast-approaching aircraft with interest. "Well, well, aren't you a game little devil... Designate target as hostile and engage when ready," he ordered.

"_Understood."_ There was a moment's silence as the vast battery of radar-guided guns and missiles trained on the approaching aircraft. _"Tracking target. Thirty seconds to firing range."_

Robotnik smiled faintly. "I almost feel sorry for the poor little bugger," he mused. "Ah, well."

* * *

Tails registered the warning chimes without emotion, and pressed a small switch to the right of his MFD. The radar display briefly scrambled as the built-in electronic countermeasures suite began filling the ether with electromagnetic noise, but cleared as the onboard computer caught up and began switching radar frequencies a few seconds ahead of the jammers. "Alright, Robuttnik, let's see how you deal with this..." 

The first explosion was nearly a kilometre off-target, but the force of the blast was still enough to rock the whole aircraft. The canopy crazed over his head as a shell fragment bounced off it, but the tough polycarbonate held. Eyes narrowing, Tails sideslipped a few metres and kicked in the rocket sled for a second or two, then abruptly veered in the opposite direction. _It'll be missiles any second,_ he mused._ Either missiles or Badniks..._

A much louder siren began screaming, and a large green bar with the word MISSILE on it began flashing in his HUD. Tails banked violently, firing the chaff dispenser a couple of times as he did so. No fewer than eight green dots were visible in the Heads-Up Display, so Tails made a series of violent S-turns, tossing out bundles of tinfoil confetti to to the rear of the plane. Five of the missiles flew straight through the chaff clouds, whilst two more apparently locked onto radar ghosts and exploded. The last seemed to be boring straight in on him, but Tails dragged Skyfox into a desperate corckscrew roll that averted disaster at the last second. "Not bad, Eggman. Not bad at all," he conceded reluctantly, flipping the safety cover off the Master Arm switch.

* * *

Robotnik cursed openly as he stared at the console in utter disbelief. "Scramble interceptors!" he ordered. "Have that bloody thing shot down before it gets into weapons range!" _What's he trying to achieve?_ He wondered silently._ Unless he thinks I've got his friends caged somewhere else..._

Suddenly feeling uneasy, Ivo called up the CCTV system and checked the cell where Sonic and Knuckles were... "Bugger and shit! How the...? Full internal security alert!"

* * *

Amy cursed as a dozen crablike Badniks came charging down the corridor, heavy-duty pincers levelled. "We're busted. You guys good to go?" 

"Little banged up but not too bad," Sonic replied. "Knux?"

"Just try and hold me back."

"Good," Amy said with a predatory grin. "Let's do it!" As one, they ran forwards. Sonic took the lead and vaulted over the line of combat drones, curling up and landing a hundred and fifty pounds of arrow-sharp quills on the nearest. Amy smashed another with the axe, whilst Knuckles lifted a third off the deck with an uppercut and hurled it at its fellows. Amy waded in after it, swinging the axe like a maniac. Sonic leapt over her head and attacked them from the rear, sprinting forward and using his body's natural defences as a weapon of offence and scattering Badniks like bowling pins, then lashed out with a kick at one he'd missed. "Remind me again why we haven't kicked Robuttnik's ass so bad he stays owned?" he remarked.

"Because life would be boring without him?" Amy replied. "C'mon, let's get outta here."

A few moments later, the escapees and their rescuer exited the lift and pelted towards the corner of the hangar bay reserved for Robotnik's personal hovercraft. Amy ran to the nearest and climbed aboard and looked over the console, then hissed in frustration. "Oh, _now_ he bothers with some friggin' security!" she raged. "Guys, tell me one of you knows how to hotwire one of these things..."

Knuckles jumped up beside her and punched a hole in the panel, then yanked out a couple of wires and twisted them together. The hovercraft whirred to life. Amy flashed him a grateful smile and took the controls. Sonic and Knuckles shared a look, then shrugged and climbed in behind her. With the seat adjusted so Amy could reach the controls there was ample room for them both, though Sonic was distinctly uncomfortable about sharing the space with the axe. "Hold tight guys!" Amy warned, and opened the throttle. "Any time now, Tails!" she yelled into her commset.

"_Roger that. I'll be in range in another ten seconds."_

"Have we _got_ ten seconds?" Sonic wondered, nodding towards the procession of Badniks pounding into the hangar bay.

"I think so... Hey, what does this do-?" Amy pressed a button on the control yoke, and fired a burst of superheated plasma from the small 'headlamp' in front of the windshield. The hangar doors exploded outwards. Filing this previously unsuspected feature under 'useful to know', Amy pushed the collective forwards and sent them rushing out of the hangar with a hail of gunfire and lasers following close behind.

* * *

Tails saw the explosion and grinned, then fired all six missiles at once. Their infrared warheads tracked the biggest heat source on the Death Egg, the complex and still largely mysterious anti-gravity drives that maintained the great vessel's altitude. Whilst their working principles remained a secret so closely guarded that even Tails had not yet been able to reverse-engineer them, it was known that despite Dr Robotnik's best efforts, they not only generated a great deal of waste heat but were highly susceptible to damage. 

The Death Egg's point-defence lasers were able to shoot down one of the missiles. Another suffered damage to the control surfaces and ploughed into the hull at an angle, finally detonating just below one of the huge tanks of liquid hydrogen that fueled the fusion reactor. The resulting pyrotechnics were truly spectaular, tearing a whole section of the hull away as a tremendous gout of flame leapt outwards, but failed to inflict serious damage; the fuel cells had been designed so that any explosion would be vented into the open air rather than through the interior. The real damage was done by the quartet of exploding warheads that destroyed nearly a third of the suspensor banks. The great battle-station began to list, groaning ominously as it was subjected to stresses that it could not sustain indefinitely. The onboard computer detected the damage and the list immediately, and reduced power to the remaining suspensors in an attempt to correct it, but the vessel rapidly began to lose altitude.

"Damage report!" Ivo bellowed into the nearest intercom panel, once he'd regained his feet and his senses.

"_Suspensor banks severely damaged, bouyancy reduced to 32. Fuel Cell Four breached, fires contained."_

"Damn. Rocket thrusters?"

"_Minor blast damage but overall efficiency estimated at 93. However, with the suspensor banks severely damaged, the acceleration compensators-"_

"Yes, I know. Boost for a polar orbit as soon as I depart, and begin repairs. And where the hell are those interceptors?"

_Unknown at this time; radar and communications have been disrupted. However, one squadron was able to launch, and was instructed to target the attacking aircraft."_

"Good," Robotnik muttered, boarding another hovercraft and starting it up. "I'll have those little furry bastards for taxidermy practice for this," he growled. "I've only just finished patching her up after last time!"

* * *

The interceptors homed in on SkyFox, stylised metallic birds with twin lasers where their eyes should be. Tails vectored towards them and swept the guns across their formation. Five Badniks exploded, and another dropped back with damage to its engines. The remaining interceptor drones opened fire, invisible beams of destructive energy scoring the aircraft's hull. "That was my paint you bastards!" he quipped, veering hard to the right and dumping chaff and flares. Momentarily confused by the ghostly radar returns and searing heat from the burning magnesium flares, the Badniks veered away. Tails pulled back and looped around to attack them from the rear and tore through their formation with a stream of steel-tipped rounds. "Got 'em. Amy, what's your status?" 

"Eggman's on our tail!" Amy yelled into her commset. "We're overloaded and can't engage!"

"_Copy that. Hang in there, I'm coming in hot!"_

"Amy! I think I can make it to Angel Island from here!" Knuckles called. "Good luck!" Breathing a silent prayer of thanks to the distant ancestor who'd married a sugar-glider, he vaulted over the side of the cockpit and glided for home.

"Hope he can swim," Sonic quipped. "He's a worse shot than me!"

Amy rolled her eyes. _What do I see in this guy?_ She twisted the control yoke to dodge another plasma burst. "Come on, Tails, get this guy off my ass..."

The familiar drone of the modified Tornado's engines became briefly audible, but was drowned out by a buzzsaw roar as the guns opened up. Amy risked a glance behind her, and took no little satisfaction in the look on Dr Robotnik's face as SkyFox roared past and came around for a second attack run. The hovercraft's radio was tuned to the International Distress Frequency, and picked up Robotnik's detailed opinion of his adversary's ancestors, nocturnal habits and choice of lifestyle.

"_I'll get you for this, you mutated freak!"_ he finished.

"_Go piss up a rope, fat guy. I am the next stage in vulpine evolution!"_ Tails sneered, then let rip a second time. This burst scored a critical hit, sending Robotnik's hovercraft rocketing off at a high angle. "That oughta keep him out of our hair for a few days," Amy snorted. "Nice shooting, Tails!"

"_Any time. See you on the deck!"_ Rolling its wings, the little biplane veered away.

"So, now all I have to do is land this thing," Amy said thoughtfully, pulling the throttle back slightly.

There was no response. "Huh?" She pulled it back harder. "Uh oh. Erm..."

"Those are _not_ things I want to hear you saying right now, Amy!" Sonic pointed out.

"Sonic? I don't know what Knuckles did to this thing, but I can't slow down." Amy put the hovercraft in a gentle dive towards the surface. "How long does it take for one of these things to run out of fuel?"

"No idea," he replied. "Do you know how to shut off the engines?"

"Nope."

"Okay..." Sonic swallowed nervously. "Gonna have to think about this one. Um, did I say thank you yet?"

"No sweat, 'Nic. You would've done the same for me, right?" Amy looked at him askance. "Or do you still find me annoying?"

"No, no," he replied with a half-smile. "I'm glad we're past the 'Sonikku!' phase, but... Well, let's just say the Amy Rose I used to blow off every time she asked me out probably couldn't have rescued me from certain doom. You just needed... time to mature, I guess."

Amy thought about it. "Yeah, I can kinda see that."

Sonic laughed lightly. "Look, I'm not confessing my undying love for you or anything, but..." He shrugged. "If we get out of this alive, would you like to go out on a date some time?"

"I'm free on Friday. You?"

"Sure. Got anywhere in mind?"

"How about we go bowling then get a meal?" Amy suggested.

"Bowling. Yeah, bowling is..." Sonic broke off. "Hey, wait a second. I got it!" He kissed Amy on the lips. "Genius! I can't believe I didn't think of it before!"

"What?"

"Something Tails and I tried once after seeing some old movie."

Amy's eyes widened. "Oh, not that. Anything but..."

"Believe me, if I could _think _of anything but that I'd be doing it," he replied. "Besides, it wasn't all that bad."

"You broke your collarbone!" Amy protested. "Since when does that constitute not all that bad?"

"Since I learned to ride a hoverboard," he replied. "And if you have an alternative suggestion, I'm all ears."

"Okay, you win!" Amy shed as much height as she could, and pointed them towards the beach. "How close do we need to be?"

"At this speed? Another ten seconds!" Sonic stood up and braced himself, waiting for the right moment. "Friday, right?" he quipped, and leapt. Instinctively curling up as tightly as he could, he struck the water's surface with bruising force and skipped off it like a stone, shooting towards the beach like a cannonball. It might have been seconds, it might have been hours, but eventually he began to slow down. _Oh crap please just let me get to the_ _ow fuck shit no why!_

_Azure Beach, time unknown:_

Sonic opened his eyes with great reluctance. He was lying on his back, staring up at the beautifully clear blue sky. Every single part of his body hurt, for which he was perversely relieved; pain meant he probably hadn't put himself in a wheelchair. Once the worst of the agony had attenuated, Sonic attempted to raise himself up on his elbows... and discovered that his quills were embedded in the wet sand, pinning him securely in place. "Oh, crud," he said quietly, and tried again. "This is _not_ good..."

"Sonic! Are you hurt? Can you move?" Amy called urgently.

"No to both," he replied. "I'm just kind of..."

"Oh!" Amy realised what had happened and was overwhelmed by an uncontrollable fit of the giggles.

"Well I'm glad you find this amusing," Sonic grumbled. "Could you possibly stop laughing and help me up _before _high tide, please? If that's not too much trouble..."

Amy knelt down beside him, still grinning. She was soaking wet but apparently uninjured, and Sonic struggled to keep his eyes on her face. "Um, Amy?" he said with a nervous smile. "You do realise you're, um...?"

"Are you blushing?" she giggled.

"You're wearing a white t-shirt with no bra and you've just come out of the sea. Blushing is normal in this situation."

Amy grinned devilishly and swung herself on top of him. "You can't escape me this time, Nicky!" she cackled, bending down so that her face was inches from his.

Sonic's arms twined round her shoulders, and he smiled wryly. "Oh, I'm done running from you, Amy. It's more trouble than it's worth."

Amy rolled her eyes. "You really know how to make a girl feel wanted," she grumbled. "Aw, shut up and kiss me before I change my mind."

He kissed her.

And for Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose, the world would never be quite the same again.

_32 Knothole Road, 18:06 PM:_

"_And I'm running my fingers through all that silky fur, baby. Can you feel it?"_

"Yeah. And I'm reaching between your quills to stroke the back of your neck where it makes you giggle."

"_Oh, that feels so nice..."_

"Hey Tails, have you seen my _holy shit!_"

Tails fell backwards off his bed, and Cindy screamed and grabbed a towel. Sonic stared from the computer screen to his best friend and back again, shock hardening into anger. "What the _fuck?_" he demanded.

"_God damn it, Sonic, have you never heard of _knocking_?" _Cindy demanded. _"Jesus Christ!"_

"Oh, so this is my fault, huh? I'm supposed to see something like this coming-?"

"Guys!" Tails said firmly, raising his voice a bit. "Thank you. Cindy, can I call you back in a few minutes? Sonic and I need to talk." Cindy nodded, and the screen went blank. "She's got a point about knocking before you come in," he pointed out.

"How long has this been going on?" Sonic demanded coldly.

Tails thought about it. "Good question. We've met up a few times, but it only really got serious... Well, last night I guess."

"Last night," Sonic repeated. "And when exactly were you planning to tell me you were sleeping with my sister, may I ask?"

Tails sighed. "Look, I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Everything happened kind of fast, and I just wanted to find the right words and the right time, 'kay?" He snorted. "So much for that plan, huh?" Sonic merely glared. "Look, what are you expecting me to do? Say I'm sorry I fell for your sister?" Tails demanded. "Because I'm in love with her, and I'm sure as hell not sorry about _that._"

"You'd better mean that," Sonic replied after a long moment. "Hell, Tails, you're the only guy I know who I think is good enough for her; I just wish you could have talked to me about this, is all. You two are all the family I've got, and I'd like to think," he admitted, "that we've reached a level of trust and understanding where you don't think I'm going to break your face over this without a good reason."

"_Well, what do you know,"_ Cindy laughed. _"Maybe he's finally growing up after all."_

"What the-? Cindy! This was supposed to be a private conversation!"

"_Oh, you're one to talk..."_

"That was not a conversation! That was phone-sex!"

Tails sighed. "In the uncertain world we live in, it's comforting to know that some things never change. You guys really are as bad as each other, you know that?"

"_And you wouldn't have us any other way, would you, Miles?" _Cindy giggled.

"Do you really want me to answer that, sweetheart?"

_Outskirts of Mobotropolis, several days later:_

The cemetary was small and quiet, and insulated from the worst of the sounds of the city by a high fence of semi-translucent sound baffles. The gates had been locked half an hour ago, but the hedgehog-anthronimal currently strolling through the grounds had never been overly concerned with such things. Besides, ten minutes at a computer terminal would have produced a small mountain of official paperwork to show that he was in fact dead, and had been dead for something close to ten years now. They could hardly throw him out then.

Shadow half-smiled at the thought, and knelt before a pair of elegantly simple markers of highly polished granite, with a flourishing rosebush planted between them. He reached into the bag he was carrying for some pruning shears, but stopped suddenly as he belatedly noticed the bunch of lilies lying in front of the marker on the right.

"Huh?" Shadow's eyes narrowed as he mentally compiled a list of people who knew that lilies were Maria's favourite flower and were still alive. It wasn't very long; he might have mentioned it in passing to Knuckles that time they'd got embarassingly drunk together on Angel Island, but as neither of them actually remembered anything much about that evening...

There was an envelope beneath the lilies, with his name on it in handwriting he hadn't seen for sixty years. Shadow opened it with trembling hands.

_Dear Shadow,_

_I'm writing this in the hope that reports of your demise have been somewhat exaggerated. Mine certainly were, but I'll save that story for another day. Still, it looks like that vamp in that old sci-fi show you're so fond of was absolutely right; there's nobody freer than a dead man._

_As you can imagine, I've been keeping a low profile for the past few years. For a long time I thought you were dead too, and I hesitated to approach you when I discovered you were alive but suffering from amnesia. It wasn't just that we were both still wanted fugitives; cowardly as it might have been, the thought of contacting you and not being recognised was too much to bear. You've every right to be angry at me for that, but I hope you'll at least consider looking me up some day._

_I'd love to be able to give you information that would lead you to me, but Ivo has already tried to kill me once, and there's no guarantee that this letter won't be read by others. I'm probably not all that hard to find if you know what you're looking for, though._

_Yours_

_Gerald._

"You son of a bitch," Shadow murmured, his face breaking out in a rare grin. "You wily old son of a _bitch_!" He laughed out loud, resting his hand on his mentor's tombstone for support as the waves of mirth subsided, to be replaced by tears of joy and relief.

Once he'd regained his composure, Shadow turned the envelope over and scribbled a quick reply with a biro that had been in his back pocket for some long-forgotten reason.

_Dr G,_

_Guess who's not dead either? And remember, you can't beat the Ultimate Lifeform at hide-and-seek!_

_S._

Shadow flashed a sad smile at the second marker. "I just ruined my image, didn't I?" he remarked. "Now you'll never let me take you on a date..."

He folded up the letter and tucked it into his coat pocket, then set about pruning and deadheading the rosebush with a degree of skill that might have surprised his acquaintances. Once the bush looked presentable, he carefully cleared away the residue and put away the tools, then headed for the gates.

For the first time in sixty years, Shadow the Hedgehog had a smile on his face.


End file.
